


These Uncertain Steps That We Must Take Together

by aclockworkgirl



Category: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Adventure, F/M, Fantasy, Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:49:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24957133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aclockworkgirl/pseuds/aclockworkgirl
Summary: Midgar is behind them. A world of possibility is in front of them. What does it mean to divest oneself of the directives of fate? A wounded world has placed its hopes in an unlikely crew of misfits and vagabonds. With the planet's blessing, Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Aerith, and Red XIII now venture out into the wider world.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Cloud Strife, Cloud/Aerith
Comments: 10
Kudos: 53





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The first chapter is short, but there will be more to come. I was eager to get my first fic started.

Aerith was silent as the party made its way out of Midgar and into the wider world. She felt wistful. Midgar was a corrupt and brutal place, to be sure, but it was the only home Aerith had ever known. The sprawl of the slums and the uncanny metal sky evoked comfortable familiarity for her.

And now, for the first time in her life, she'd be leaving all of that behind. But it wasn't just that. Everything was different now.

"You seem a bit preoccupied," Tifa said. She had slowed to match Aerith's pace. "Is everything all right?" Tifa had a way about her that put Aerith at ease and in a mood to talk. Aerith saw her as something of a big sister.

"I know it's a silly thing to be focused on given...everything," Aerith said, gesturing vaguely behind her, "...but it's hard for me not to feel a bit homesick already. It feels real now, you know?"

Tifa smiled and nodded. "Believe it or not, I know what you mean. Already, I miss Marlene, Seventh Heaven, the brokenhearted slum." She glanced back at the city, already vanishing behind them. "More than ever in my life, I feel like I'm venturing into the unknown."

"I'm a little surprised," Aerith said. "You always seemed so...sure of yourself. Composed."

Tifa shrugged. "I had a routine. I had the bar, Avalanche, the broader anti-Shinra movement. I had a world that I knew my place in. Now, I really don't know what's going to happen. Everything feels so uncertain."

Aerith acquired a far-away expression. "Things are very uncertain now," Aerith said, choosing her words carefully.

"You...don't just mean us leaving the city, do you?" Tifa asked hesitantly.

Aerith shook her head.

"That thing we fought...it changed something, didn't it?" Tifa asked, knowing but not understanding Aerith's unspoken answer. "The world we saw in those visions was one possible future? One possible world?"

Aerith looked down at her feet. "We have fundamentally decoupled ourselves from the path ordained for us, Tifa." She no longer spoke with the chipper cadence so characteristic of the young flower girl Tifa had originally met. She sounded somehow very old, burdened with a lifetime of memories and knowledge too intricate and vast to ever adequately convey. "A rupture has opened along the course that had been carefully established for this world eons ago."

"We did all of that?" Tifa asked, astonished.

"No. At least, not just us. We lanced a wound that had grown ripe with necrosis and pain. An infection has been roiling beneath the surface of this world for a long time. And now, a kind of wild and violent chaos has taken the place of the rigidity with which our world was otherwise destined to live, grow, and die. The carefully curated garden has been replaced with the unpredictability of the wild." She looked at Tifa with fear in her eyes. "The planet's voice has become confused and dissonant."

Tifa placed a hand on Aerith's shoulder. "But it isn't necessarily bad, is it?"

"You said it yourself," Aerith said, smiling grimly. "Before, the world was small. And we were, all of us, quite small relative to the grander scheme of things. Now, our roles are considerably more complex. We are the shapers of a new world to come. We've slipped the snare of fate. We're like Him now."

Tifa shook her head, knowing to whom Aerith was referring. "We are nothing like him. He's a murderer and a megalomaniac."

"We're the planet's answer to that. I pray ceaselessly that we don't fall sway to the temptations of this terrible burden we must now bear."


	2. Chapter 2

The party continued to march northeast and into the deepening gloam of twilight. The evening breeze was cool and tousled Aerith’s hair as it swept across the plain. She took a deep breath.

“The air is so clean. No ventilated reactor exhaust or scent of landfill decay. But there is something distinctive. Almost spicy,” Aerith said.

“Sea salt,” Cloud said. “We’re getting close to the shore and to the small town of Kalm. We should make it there by tomorrow afternoon.”

“We’ll be needin’ to camp soon,” Barret said. “Traveling at night’ll be dangerous with all of those shambling mako monstrosities about.”

“Yes. And frankly, I’m beat,” Tifa said, slumping onto the plush grass. “Let’s just stop here.”

“It’ll be cold tonight,” Cloud said, gazing at the darkening skies ahead of them. “The wind is already picking up.”

Tifa thought for a moment. “I think Barret, Red, and Aerith can handle getting the tents and sleeping bags out. Why don’t you and I collect some kindling for a fire?”

Cloud tilted his head quizzically but saw the concern in Tifa’s eyes. “Right. Yes, uh, that’s a good idea.”

The two wandered a ways from camp and toward a nearby copse of trees, leaving Barret with the unenviable task of setting up camp with the help of a florist and a quadruped. “I take it you wanted to talk with me?” Cloud asked.

“It’s about Aerith,” Tifa began. “She...hasn’t been herself since we met up with her in Shinra Headquarters. I’m really worried about her.” Tifa cast a glance over her shoulder and could see Aerith sitting apart from Barret and Red, her eyes staring off into the middle distance unblinking. “She’s been saying things that I don’t completely understand but...”

“She hears the voice of the planet, Tifa. And I’m guessing that voice is growing colder and more distant all the time.”

“Yes, she said something to that effect. But how could you know that?” Tifa asked, staring concernedly at Cloud.

“That creature we fought before leaving Midgar. I’ve felt different ever since. Surely you have too.” Cloud looked at Tifa intensely.

“I...I mean, maybe. To be honest, I just attributed my anxiety and discomfort to leaving home. It feels a bit like...”

“Nibelheim?” Cloud asked, knowing the answer.

Tifa nodded.

The two reached the cluster of trees and started foraging about for sticks, twigs, and dry branches. Tifa took several cords of rope out of her traveling pack and roughly bundled wood as it accumulated.

“Do you know what it all means then? This business about defying fate and charting some unknown course?”

Cloud shook his head. “I don’t know anything about that. That’s getting a bit philosophical for me. Is that what Aerith said?”

Tifa nodded. “That and more. She didn’t sound like herself. She sounded very far away. And very old. I don’t think she shared it expecting I’d understand any of it in detail. I think she just really needed to talk.”

“Do you think I should talk to her?” Cloud asked.

“I think she looks to you for stability,” Tifa said. “I know that probably sounds like an odd way of putting it, but I think for her, your surety and sense of purpose makes her feel a bit less adrift. Heck, it does for all of us; but I think Aerith in particular really needs that now. I wouldn’t bring any of this up directly, but maybe just keep it in mind. And keep a bit of an eye on her.”

Cloud nodded and looked at the three bundles of firewood they’d gathered. “I think we have plenty for a fire now if we want to head back.”

Tifa hoisted a bundle up onto her back as Cloud did the same with the other two. She gazed out across the darkening plain and squinted as something moved through the tall grass. “Cloud, do you see--”

Before she could finish, a pack of indigo wolves burst out of the brush and darted toward the two of them. Combat reflexes kicking in, Tifa let her firewood bundle fall to the ground and dropped into a squatting stance just as the first wolf reached her. Propelling herself forward off of her back foot, she lunged into the creature with her fist, knocking it back and sending it sprawling. “Cloud!”

“I see them.” He let his own bundles drop in a heap and drew his buster sword in time to block another wolf, going for his throat. With a heave, he sent the disoriented creature back before raising his blade and bringing it down onto the beast, splitting it in two. “There are too many. Can you signal the others?” Cloud shouted before diving in front of Tifa and sweeping is blade in a wide arc, temporarily discouraging a group of three from getting closer.

“I’ll try.” Hopping back a few feet, Tifa charged the fire materia housed in her glove and launched a flare into the sky. Night had begun to fall, and the flare lit up the plain around them, illuminating the grass and revealing the pack slowly closing in. Dodging a leap from another wolf, Tifa located a cluster of them and launched a second flare into the center of the group. The flare detonated on impact, scattering the animals and inflicting cruel burns along their hides. “Do wolves normally stalk people?” Tifa asked breathlessly.

“Wolves mutated by mako do,” Cloud said, smacking another aside with the flat of his blade before rotating his sword catching a second along the edge of his backswing. “Animals like these lose all sense of self-preservation. They’re going to keep coming until we put them down.”

An opportunistic swipe from a wolf in Tifa’s blindspot cut a bloody gash along her forearm. She pivoted and kicked it in the side before finishing it with a fiery volley of magic.

“Tifa!” Cloud turned and thrust his arm toward her, bathing her arm in soothing, curative energy. The wound began to close and Tifa flexed her fingers as feeling returned to her hand. From behind, two wolves vaulted at Cloud as he dropped his guard.

“Look out!” Tifa shouted, but before the wolves’ jaws could close around Cloud’s throat, loud machine gun fire ripped through the grass and shattered the wolves’ bodies mid-air. They dropped harmlessly to the ground.

Barret emerged from the grass and swept his arm-mounted gun in a semicircle around the group, peppering the ground with bullets. Grass and dirt were kicked up in violent plumes. They could hear whimpering, dying cries of the remaining wolves each time Barret’s gun arced across a rustling patch of dense grass. Red XIII and Aerith rushed in behind him, Aerith inspecting Tifa’s partially-healed wound and Red scouting the perimeter for signs of danger.

“Dead. All of them,” Red said laconically as he sniffed the air. “We need to hurry back to camp and start that fire. That should keep them away. Are you both all right?” He turned and looked at Cloud and Tifa.

“It looks like Tifa has a nasty cut on her arm, but it’s healing. I’m taking care of the rest,” Aerith said.

“Thanks,” Tifa said, smiling at Aerith. "It feels a lot better."

Cloud clapped Barret on the shoulder and nodded. “I would’ve been in pretty bad shape if you hadn’t showed up. Thanks,” he said.

Barret acknowledged Cloud with a brief nod in return. “Anytime, merc.”

Aerith and Tifa exchanged smiles and significant glances watching the two men. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say they were a couple of old war buddies,” Aerith chirped teasingly.

“We’ll be seeing hugs from the two of them soon, at this rate,” Tifa continued, eliciting giggles from Aerith, something she hadn’t heard since Midgar.

It was teasing at his expense, but Cloud was reassured by what he was seeing. Even if it was just for a moment, Aerith seemed back to her old self.

“Right. So, camp then...” Red XIII said, urging the group along. “More of those things will show up if we wait here.”

“He’s right. Let’s head back and settle in for the evening. We have a bit further to go before we reach civilization,” Cloud said collecting the wood bundles off the ground that had somehow remained mercifully untouched during the fight.

The party headed back toward their campsite, a bit restored by the prospect of dinner and a much-needed rest.


	3. Chapter 3

Cloud stoked the coals of the campfire before adding a small stack of the remaining, collected wood. Dawn would arrive soon, and the fuel he and Tifa had brought back would easily last until then. Being alone like this with his thoughts wasn’t new for him. This was something of a return to form. But his growing sense of responsibility toward his friends, and especially toward Aerith, certainly was new. He wasn’t simply pursuing Sephiroth out of some altruistic desire to protect humanity’s or the planet’s future. Those were lofty goals, but deep down, he knew they weren’t immediate or personal enough to explain this newfound sense of purpose he felt. He was doing it for his friends. And he was doing it for her.

The delicate sound of padded footfalls drew him out of his reverie. He jerked his head to the side to see Red XIII walking toward him. “Can’t sleep?” Cloud asked.

“No. So I thought perhaps I’d come keep you company.” Red XIII situated himself near the fire. “If you don’t mind, of course.”

“I don’t mind,” Cloud said, continuing to tend to the fire.

“I confess...” Red XIII said as he stretched languidly, “I feel a bit apprehensive about entering Kalm. Not that I expect any trouble per se. Just that I wonder if I’ll be warmly welcomed.”

“You mean due to not being human?”

“It is as you say,” Red XIII said. “That, and I do worry a bit about drawing attention to the group.”

Cloud smiled. “Our crew features an ex-SOLDIER, a man with a gun for a hand, a plucky florist who speaks in riddles, and a woman who can drop-kick a mako wolf several yards and looks the part. I’d say that ship has sailed.”

Red XIII returned the smile appreciatively. “Perhaps you’re right. Still, if me being present starts to look like it will cause a scene, I can wait outside. I’m used to people feeling a bit uncomfortable about me.”

“No. We’ve been through too much together. They’ll let all of us in or we’ll look for a place to camp nearby.”

Red XIII acquired a concerned expression.

“I’m not just being noble, Red,” Cloud said. “Separating like that is dangerous. We need to stick together.”

“Fair enough,” Red XIII conceded. “For what it’s worth, and since I can’t imagine this has been easy on you, I think you’re doing well as a leader.”

Cloud probed the fire, unsure of how to respond.

“You don’t need to say anything. I just thought you should know. And I’m not the only one who thinks so.”

“I’m just trying to do right by everyone.”

“That’s a perfectly diplomatic attitude to have,” Red XIII said. “All the same, I thought you needed to hear that. And before you protest, I’m not just being noble either. It’s in my best interest to keep your morale from flagging.”

“Fair enough,” Cloud said, smiling. “On another note, I think you mentioned you were originally from somewhere far to the west.”

“Yes. Cosmo Canyon. A beautiful place that I hope to be able to return to someday,” Red XIII said.

“And your people are very spiritual, I believe?”

Red XIII weighed the question for a moment. “Yes, I suppose you could say that, though I think grandfather considers himself a proper scientist. Just one aided in his scientific efforts by a well-honed intuition.”

“Aerith has been talking strangely lately...about fate and other weighty things. Is that something you’re very familiar with?”

Red XIII shook his head. “Grandfather spoke in such terms often, but I don’t think I could offer any additional insight beyond what you probably already know. There’s a general direction toward which life tends. The planet, and the cosmos at large, constitute a vast and complex system of ebbing and flowing energies. Trying to swim against that current is essentially impossible for any one person. Which isn’t to say that things are static but more that there’s a natural gravity built into the way this system works. Do Aerith’s concerns pertain to those visions we received just prior to leaving Midgar?”

Cloud nodded. “I think so.”

“Then sadly I’m just as in the dark as she is. Likely moreso since she enjoys a sort of fluency with the rhythms of the planet that no other living being shares.” Red XIII paused for a moment, his expression turning pensive. “As the sole surviving Ancient, she must feel very alone at times.”

“Right. I’m just beginning to appreciate that,” Cloud said, prodding the fire absentmindedly.

“If I may say so, it may help for her to know she isn’t alone. She is the last of her kind, but she isn’t without friends.”

Cloud gave a quiet nod.

They sat in silence for a few minutes more before Red XIII rose. “I suppose I’ll try to get another hour of rest or so. Will you be all right by yourself for the remainder of your watch?”

“I will. Take care, Red.”

Red XIII inclined his head and then returned to his tent. Cloud, alone with his thoughts once more, kept quiet vigil over the campsite.

* * *

The party reached Kalm the following afternoon. The journey was uneventful, but the group was happy to see the rooftops of the small town as they appeared along the horizon. Coils of chimney smoke rose off the rooftops of the quaint homes. As the party drew closer, they were greeted with the sights, sounds, and smells of uncomplicated, provincial life. Merchants and tradespeople bedecked in functional garments strolled along the winding roads. Fishmongers, bakers, carpenters, and shipwrights could all be easily identified by their distinctive garb or collections of tools and goods for vending. The party passed into town without any difficulty, briefly speaking with the guards posted outside and explaining they were traveling from Midgar.

“Do we need to formally register our business here?” Cloud asked at the gate.

“Nah. We’re mostly here as a deterrent and to ward off any nasty mako beasts that might get a bit too close. But you’re free to come and go as you like. Kalm’s a quiet little town, befitting its name, but what we lack in excitement, we make up for in hospitality. As we’re fond of saying,” said the mustachioed guard with a grin.

“As you are fond of saying,” the younger man corrected.

“I’m thinking it’ll catch on!” the older guard said indignantly.

“So...we’ll just be headin’ inside, I think,” Barret said, inching his way through the gate.

“It has a lot of potential. It’s punchy. It’s accurate,” the older guard continued, no longer aware of the party passing between he and his younger comrade.

“It was nice meeting you!” Aerith said, following Barret inside the town.

“It sounds like something you’d see on the back of a postcard,” said the younger guard with exasperation.

“Exactly!” the older man said.

“Take care,” Tifa said politely as she and the rest of the party walked past the checkpoint.

“That isn’t a compliment...” said the younger man.

Leaving the two men to their debate, the party made their way toward a tranquil fountain positioned at the center of the town square.

“All things considered, that was a refreshingly drama-free encounter with human strangers,” Red XIII said, clearly relieved.

“I come from a little town myself. Folk there are hard-nosed and polite in a similar kinda way. Let everyone’s business just be their business and don’t ask uncomfortable questions,” Barret said. “A nice change from the city.”

“Can’t really argue with that,” Aerith agreed.

“With that settled, why don’t we replenish our supplies and then head toward the inn here in the square? I think we could all use a day to just relax, and there’s a lot about my history with Sephiroth I’d like to share.”

“Cloud, if you’d rather wait nobody would blame you,” Tifa said.

“Now’s as good a time as any,” Cloud said. “It’s a difficult subject. These are unpleasant memories. But I think it’s important we’re all on the same page about who he is and what my relationship was with him.”

Aerith nodded. “I’d appreciate that. There are some things that’ve been weighing on my mind as well that I’d like to contribute, if that’d be all right.”

Cloud smiled. “That would be more than welcome, Aerith.”

“Ok. Shopping, food other than trail rations, and then a round-table discussion at probably the only inn in Kalm,” said Tifa.

The group wandered through the streets of town, enjoying a brief respite from their long and arduous journey.


	4. Chapter 4

The party filed into the large suite of the Traveler’s Repose. The room was rustic and worn with age, but it was well maintained. The couches and chairs bore the scars of patchings and reupholsterings, and the large table situated in the center was pockmarked from the countless meals it’d accommodated over the years. It felt homey and inviting, subtly easing the burdens of the group as soon as they entered. Tifa and Barret deposited a pile of pastries onto the middle of the table for the group to snack on while Cloud prepped a small wood-burning stove to make tea.

One by one, the party seated themselves around the mound of treats and settled in. Cloud retrieved the steaming kettle from the stove and prepared a pot of the tea they’d purchased in the market. He poured himself a cup before finally speaking. “I can’t think of a graceful way to start the story, so I suppose I’ll just get right to it. As all of you know, I was a member of Shinra’s elite SOLDIER program. We acted as the scalpel in Shinra’s military, being deployed behind enemy lines to sabotage supplies, carry out assassinations, or to disrupt communications in preparation for full-scale invasions. We all received martial training and were competent with materia usage. A single SOLDIER was something of a one-person army. Outside of formal war, we acted as investigators or as a sort of secret police. Much of what we did then is handled by the Turks now, as the SOLDIER program has since been mothballed. The most notorious and most accomplished of us was undoubtedly Sephiroth.”

“I’ve never been in the military, but even from my time in Avalanche I know you need to be at least kinda stable to handle organizin’ with others, carrying out missions, workin’ within a hierarchy, etc. Pretty hard to picture the madman we encountered in Midgar keeping it together long enough to handle something like employment in the Shinra military,” Barret said.

“He wasn’t always like that. He used to be a true professional,” Cloud continued. “He had this effortless charisma about him, and his instinct for diplomacy was second to none. He inspired confidence in others and handled thorny political matters with aplomb. He accumulated medals for heroism and the undying respect of both the officer class and the rank-and-file. History has furnished few warriors like him, if any. He was the real deal.”

“Not intended as a criticism, but you clearly looked up to this man for a time. That must make this all unusually hard for you,” Red XIII said.

“We all did. Even his enemies did. He wasn’t prone to sadistic excess as so many in the Shinra military are or have been in the past. His presence during a military operation was a sure sign that, whatever the outcome, the operation would be handled with proper restraint and discipline from all auxiliary military units operating in the area. For the Shinra propaganda department, his legendary status was an absolute boon,” Cloud said. “I won’t lie, it is difficult to see him like this given what I knew of his history and knew of him personally.”

Aerith fidgeted nervously through Cloud’s description. “You worked alongside him then?” she asked.

Cloud nodded. “Once. We were deployed to my hometown of Nibelheim to investigate a disturbance at a mako reactor. I wish I could say I was simply eager to travel home and see everyone, but the truth of the matter is that it was an opportunity to work with the man himself. I couldn’t pass it up.”

Cloud took a sip of tea before continuing. “We arrived and immediately set about investigating the area, talking with the townspeople and negotiating passage up the mountain and into the reactor. Tifa joined our expedition.”

Everyone glanced Tifa’s way. She nodded hesitantly. “I was just an aspiring martial artist at the time. And something of a photographer. I knew my way through the mountain pass, and I wanted to help. Nibelheim was my hometown.”

“Sephiroth and I entered the reactor and proceeded deep inside the facility to try to locate the source of the problem,” Cloud continued. “I and Sephiroth were prepared psychologically for monsters, environmental disasters, containment malfunctions...” He paused to take another sip from his cup. “But what we ended up finding chilled Sephiroth to the core. I’d never seen him so much as blink when dispatching the occasional mako beast. The man was incapable of fear, or so all of the stories went. But when we found what was situated in the reactor, he froze – a hermetically isolated chambed with his mother’s name emblazoned above. Jenova.”

“His...his mother?” Aerith asked in disbelief.

“Yes. He talked about her now and then whenever he was prompted about his past, his home life, his parents. He didn’t know a lot about her, but he seemed to have warm feelings toward her,” Cloud said. “Seeing the name written out and above a chamber leading into what was clearly part of some sort of research experiment affected him. He seemed to be...remembering something. He left with the look of one possessed. I’d never been so unnerved in all my life. I eventually found him beneath the Shinra manor located in Nibelheim. He’d found a basement library filled with old research portfolios, manuals, and lab notes. He told me that he was an Ancient. A Cetra. He told me that humanity was a disease, and that his mother, Jenova, was being held inside the Nibelheim reactor. His voice, his demeanor, it was all unrecognizable. Within a few hours, he’d completely lost control of himself.”

Tifa shuddered and looked away, preparing for what was going to happen next in the story.

“And then that night, he burned the town to the ground. He hunted down and slaughtered the citizens, and he marched into the reactor to liberate his mother’s remains.” Cloud paused and sighed. “He killed Tifa’s father. When she found out, she tried to hunt Sephiroth down and kill him herself. Before I could come to her aid, Sephiroth had critically wounded her. I managed to move her to a safe place before trying to confront Sephiroth myself, but I failed to stop him from taking whatever was in the Jenova chamber.”

“You saved my life,” Tifa said meekly.

“I am grateful I got there in time,” Cloud said.

Aerith put a comforting hand on Tifa’s.

“Then...if we are to believe Sephiroth’s interpretation of things, he is an Ancient as well. Aerith is not the sole surviving member of her species?”

Aerith shook her head. “He isn’t. He’s something else. I don’t know what he is, but...” Her lips quivered as she tried to blink back tears. “...whatever he is, he’s not a Cetra. The Cetra are of the planet. We were its will made manifest. We curated the surface and lived our lives as if a part of a vast dance performed to the music of the planet itself. Sephiroth is fundamentally outside of that and always has been.”

“Then what precisely is he?” Red XIII ask, concern creeping into his voice.

“I don’t know,” Aerith said. “I am able to interpret the planet’s language less and less. Just as he is outside of the natural flow of the planet’s energies, so too are we increasingly.”

“This is what you were sharing with me before,” Tifa said. “This stuff about fate and all.”

Aerith nodded. “So far as I can tell, we’ve been cut loose from the natural, intended course of things. With the death of that creature we encountered leaving Midgar, we’ve been...promoted in a sense to become authors of a now uncertain future.”

“But why?” Red XIII asked.

“Because Sephiroth is such a creature himself. He is not of this world. He operates outside of its rhythms and patterns. And while he may not be powerful enough yet to author a new future for this world, I fear his intention is to accumulate such power.”

“And you don’t see this development regarding our own promotion as strictly positive,” Red XIII said.

“No. It means that we bear the burden of bringing about a future. Before, we were simply a part of the plodding inevitability of fate. Now, we are charged with creating the world to come. Whether we succeed or fail in our task, our actions will resonate for an eternity. Before us are myriad, branching paths.” Aerith grew pale. “Every decision we make now will have repercussions for all subsequent generations.”

“It’s hard to imagine the hubris of a man like Sephiroth taking on such a role with so blasé an attitude,” Red XIII said.

“Precisely,” Aerith said. “Every death, every moment of suffering, every tear shed after all is said and done is something we will have had a hand in causing. That isn’t power we should have.”

“We’ll use it judiciously. We’ll stop Sephiroth and nothing more,” Cloud said, reassuringly.

Aerith looked up at him with trust and affection, but fear permeated her speech. “I wish I could be so sure.”


	5. Chapter 5

For their last night in Kalm, the party decided to take advantage of a local festival that overlapped with their brief stay. The scent of spiced seafood and bready confections imbued the cool evening with a cheery warmth and, despite themselves and the recent sobering revelations they’d discussed in the inn, the group found themselves enjoying the opportunity to put aside their cares, if only for this one evening.

“I feel a bit underdressed,” Aerith said as she and Cloud perused several merchant stalls vending sweet pastries filled with jellied fruit. “Everyone seems to have on these beautiful dresses or cloaks covered in moons and stars.” Cloud and Aerith had left Barret and Red to indulge in a friendly tournament involving a series of fair games. Tifa had agreed to stay and referee the event.

“It’s a lunar festival,” Cloud said as he finished making a purchase for he and Aerith. He passed her a warm pastry filled with candied strawberries.

“You're such the worldly traveler,” Aerith teased. “One of the benefits to a career as a SOLDIER, I suppose.”

“I’ve only been to Kalm once and under circumstances a bit like ours now. We stopped through on our way to Nibelheim.”

“And that would’ve been _the_ trip to Nibelheim,” Aerith said gloomily.

“That was the one, yes.” The two located an empty outdoor table and seated themselves around it

“How does it compare the second time around?” Aerith asked.

“Well, I missed the festival my first time through,” Cloud said and then paused to watch Aerith’s reaction. “And I didn’t have the benefit of such pleasant company.”

Aerith’s ears turned pink with embarrassment, but she clearly appreciated the statement. She bit down into her pastry. “And no tasty local sweets either, I imagine?”

Cloud shook his head. “I’m afraid not. The Shinra military encourages a sort of antipathy toward local customs.”

“A shame. It says so much about them, really,” Aerith said around mouthfuls of the flaky dessert. “Not about the individuals themselves, of course, I just mean...” she said hastily.

“No, you’re right. They wanted us to be killing machines, solely devoted to advancing Shinra’s interests. Shinra did their best to snuff out any sense of empathy we had.”

“But it didn’t work. You’re not like that,” Aerith said gently. “You’re one of the kindest people I know, especially with all you’ve been through. All you’ve seen.”

Cloud held the pastry in his hand, still untouched. “It never truly goes away. The memories linger. The past continues to hover about, unwilling to leave you alone,” Cloud said.

“Like a ghost?” Aerith asked.

Cloud nodded. “Like a ghost.”

Aerith paused and gazed out into the crowds of people milling about, he expression turning thoughtful. “My mother...I have so few memories of her...but she used to tell me a story when I was very young. The story was about The Cetra and how they came to be as they were.” She took a small bite of pastry before continuing. “There were few beings when the cosmos was young, and they all awakened to a strange and fertile world, brimming with possibility. That possibility, that potential, was so potent and alluring; it inspired a frenzy of disparate ideologies and visions for the future - as many visions as there were beings to draft them.”

Cloud listened carefully as she spoke. Her voice assumed the wounded, burdened tone of one who had seen too much and carried it all on her shoulders. He regretted his bout of self-pity earlier.

“The Cetra, before they were so-named, quareled with each other viciously. And for a long time, very little happened among them beyond the mutual inflicting of wounds. Conflict was rife among our people, and nothing we now know of their art, their science, their wisdom, and their genius would’ve been possible had circumstances remained unchanged,” Aerith continued. “But then, the planet spoke to them through a particularly sensitive sage whose name and identity have been lost to the ages. The sage said ‘You are not, as you believe, whole and complete. You are not fully formed; you have yet to reach fullness of being,’ and his words stunned the Cetra who, until that point, had been united, if in no other respect, in their incredible hubris. Who was this person to speak so candidly about their imperfections? But then, in channeling the planet, the sage revealed to them their true state. Each Cetra, and indeed each being in the cosmos, was incomplete. They saw themselves briefly as they truly were, beautiful and radiant sparks of the divine energy of the cosmos but possessing only a single, feathery wing each. The message was clear - you remain anchored to the earth in your ignorance or you rise together, borne aloft by your wings together.”

Cloud sat in silence for a moment, allowing the weight of Aerith’s story to register with him. “And thereafter, their culture changed?”

Aerith nodded. “Or so goes the story. It is likely a myth but one that holds within it truths that are more important than the literal content. One wing is not enough, but with two? Many? There are no limits.”

Cloud placed his hand on hers and smiled. “And the same is true for you. You aren’t alone, Aerith.”

Tears began to collect in Aerith’s eyes as she tried to blink them back. “I know,” she said softly.

“We’ll rise together,” Cloud said.

Aerith took a deep breath as tears began to stream down her cheeks. “We may not all make it, Cloud. And...and I want you to know that, if that happens, that you did everything you could.”

Cloud paused, the color draining from his face. “Aerith. Aerith, did you see something in those visions? Please, tell me.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know for certain. And I’m afraid to say...I fear affecting the future just by talking about it like this. But that much, I had to tell you.”

“I won’t let anything happen to you,” Cloud said firmly. “This future is unwritten, right? Whatever you saw, even if it means what you fear it means, it may not come to pass. It won’t come to pass. We are all getting through this. Especially you.”

Aerith drew in a ragged breath to try to suppress the sobs rising in her chest. “The future is indeed unwritten,” she said. “A blessing and a curse.”

He took her hand in hers. “I will be by your side the whole time.”

“I know,” she smiled through the tears. “I’ve known that since we met in the slums,” she said. “Mr. Bodyguard.”

Cloud smiled, appreciating the much-needed levity. “And you still owe me a date, if you remember.”

“I haven’t forgotten,” Aerith said, warmth returning to her voice.

Cloud glanced about before standing up. “Why don’t we go find the others. I’m curious to hear how this tournament of Barret and Red’s went.”

“I hope Tifa kept things from getting too competitive,” Aerith mused.

“Either way, I think we won’t hear the end of it for the next few days at least.”

“Where will we be heading next?”

“Through a swamp and toward the Mythril Mine. We’ll be making our way to Junon from there, but the mine is our only passage through the mountains,” Cloud said.

Aerith nodded. “For now, let’s go find the others.”

Ever so gently, Cloud took Aerith’s hand, and the two made their way into the crowd to find their friends.


End file.
